Sabbath School Lessons on Galatians

About the Author

Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. is the author of these Sabbath School lesson study outlines. He is the Reed Larson Professor of Labor Law at Regent University School of Law. Professor Cameron has devoted his life to promoting the Gospel and defending believers. In addition to teaching at an overtly Christian law school, he continues his 39 year practice of law which is limited to the litigation of constitutional rights and religious freedom cases for employees. He holds an undergraduate degree from Andrews University and a Doctor of Law from Emory University School of Law.

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Introduction: Last week, Paul explained that the law was just like
going to school. When we discussed our days in school, we
remembered that school not only taught us important lessons about
how to succeed in life, it also taught us that we were not the
smartest student in the class. (And the smartest student was taught
that lesson the next level up in school!) Now that we have learned
those lessons, Paul concludes that "we are no longer under the
supervision of the law." ( Galatians 3:25). What does it mean to be
unsupervised? How should we live? Let's plunge again into our
continuing study of Galatians and find out what God says!

Young Sons and Daughters of God

Let's go out of order for just a bit. Let's read
Galatians 4:1. Why is it true that a young child of the
estate owner is just like a slave? (Legally, the child
has no right to the estate. But time will change that for
the child. Time will not change it for the slave.)

Read Galatians 4:2. This reminds us of last week, when we
learned that wealthy parents had servants who would take
care of their young children and make sure they were
taken to school. We learned that the law was this
instructor. Who do you think is the "father" in Paul's
analogy? (God, the Father.)

Who decides when a child becomes an adult? (Paul
tells us that the Father makes that decision. In the
United States, this is generally governed by law.
But, parents have control over when their children
have the right to the parents' wealth.)

Read Galatians 4:3. When humans were under the law they
were like school children. While in school we were "under
the basic principles of the world." What are those basic
principles? (The most basic principle is that if we
sinned, we would die.)

Adult Sons and Daughters of God

Read Galatians 4:4-5. Let's look at these two verses
closely. What time are we talking about? And, who
decided when the time should come? (The time is when
Jesus came to this world as a human. God the Father
apparently determined that time.)

What do these verses say about the nature of Jesus?
(First, that He is the Son of God. Second, that He
was born of a human woman. That makes Jesus both
God and human.)

What was the purpose of Jesus coming? (To redeem us
from the law. To give us the rights of adult sons,
instead of the rights of young children.)

Now, let's go back and pick up the verses that we
skipped. Read Galatians 3:26-29. The verses we have been
reading refer to "sons." Is Paul referring to both men
and women? (Yes!)

Then why would Paul call them "sons?" (Sons had
superior legal rights to daughters. His point is
that when it comes to being a child of God, there is
no difference based on gender, race, economic or
political status. All are given the maximum legal
right.)

How do we become a grown up child of God? How do we
move out from under the law and secure our maximum
legal rights?(Faith and baptism.)

Notice the precise wording "through faith in
Christ Jesus" and "baptized into Christ." What
kind of faith is described? Exactly what are we
believing? (Since Paul describes Jesus as both
God and human, that seems to be a key part of
faith.)

Why would Paul use the phrase "baptized into
Christ?" How can we somehow enter into Jesus
when we are baptized? (Read Romans 6:3-5. This
helps us to understand the nature of baptism.
Just as Jesus was buried in death, so it is
that when we are buried beneath the water in
baptism, we participate in Jesus' death. When
we rise from the baptismal water, we
participate in Jesus' resurrection, and thus
His defeat of sin and death. In this way we
look forward to resurrection to eternal life!)

Let's go back and re-read Galatians 3:29. What does dying
and rising(through baptism)mean about the law and grace?
(That we are now part of the contract with Abraham - to
believe and live. We have also paid, through Jesus, the
penalty for sin. In at least this way we are no longer
under the supervision of the law.)

The Spirit of the Sons and Daughters of God

Let's move forward by reading Galatians 4:6-7. What new
thing do we learn about becoming children of God? (We
have Spirit of God in our hearts.)

What is one role of God's Spirit in our heart? (To
call out "Abba," which means "Father.")

What does that mean?(It means that we have a
changed attitude towards God. We feel a love
for Him, and a relationship with Him just as we
would for a normal, loving father. Think of
the child who has a wonderful father, and that
is the relationship we have with God.)

Read Galatians 4:8-9. Should an attitude that God is our
loving and gracious Father make a difference in how we
live? (All children have a time of rebellion, but normal
children dealing with normal parents want to please their
parents.)

Paul writes of unnatural gods and "weak and
miserable principles." What are unnatural gods?
(The most unnatural gods are those that we make with
our own hands. Why would any sane person worship
some object that person made? The legalists were
doing the same thing - they were worshiping what
they had made! By their own effort they had obeyed
the law (at least they thought so), and therefore
their salvation was "made by them.")

Read Galatians 4:10-11. Paul gives us an example of what
he is talking about. How does worshiping your own efforts
have anything to do with "special days and months and
seasons and years?" (The ceremonial law had all sorts of
rules about special feasts, and the timing of certain
purification. If the people were going to rely on
observing those deadlines and dates for salvation, they
were getting back to righteousness by works.)

What about the Sabbath? It is a "special day!" (It
certainly means that going to church on Sabbath does
not save you - any more than anything else you do
saves you. If you have the attitude of "Abba"
towards your Heavenly Father, would you not want to
spend the Sabbath with Him? I love it when I can
video Skype with my son who no longer lives with us.
It is not a burden. Not a task. Not something that I
think "I'll get credit for doing this!")

We have looked at how we were buried with Jesus and
resurrected with Him. Do you recall where Jesus
spent the Sabbath after His death? (In the grave.)

Why?

If you were God the Father, and your Son had
just been through a horrific beating and abuse,
would you want to run to Him right away and
comfort Him?

If your were God the Father, and your Son had
just won the Super Bowl of the universe, would
you want to rush to Him immediately to
congratulate Him? ("Yes!" What loving parent
would delay? The only way I can possibly
account for this incredible delay is that just
as Jesus rested on Sabbath after His creation
( Genesis 2:2), so Jesus rested on Sabbath after
His victory over sin. I want to celebrate both
of those astonishing feats
(Creation/Redemption)on Sabbath - and it has
nothing to do with the works of my hands!)

Paul's Motivation

Read Galatians 4:12-16. Whenever you hear someone
advocate a position, you should ask "What is that
person's motive?" If you were a member of the Galatian
church, what negative motives could you attribute to
Paul's letter? (Pride of opinion. Anger that they should
change their mind - and no longer agree with him. Pride
of "ownership" - these are people that Paul converted.))

Notice that Paul answers these charges. Is his pride
injured? (He says, "you have done me no wrong.")

What about pride of "ownership?" (Paul says "I first
stopped in your town because I was sick." It was not
Paul's goal to convert this particular group (as
opposed to people in the next town). Paul seems to
be saying, "I can convert the next town, I don't
need to claim "ownership" over you.)

What does Paul say is his main reason for wanting
them to go back to grace? (Joy. He wants to give
them back their joy.)

Read Galatians 4:17-20. What motivates the legalists to
try to turn the Galatians to their views? (Power. They
want more followers.)

Friend, Paul tells us that believing in righteousness by
faith is like the joy of a child who on his birthday
becomes an adult. He is now unsupervised! He has freedom,
he has status, he has legal rights. That freedom as sons
and daughters of God brings us closer to Him. Makes us
desire to please Him. Will you enter today into the joy
of grace?

Next week: Paul's Pastoral Appeal.

* Copr. 2011, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. All scripture references are to the New International Version (NIV), copr. 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society, unless otherwise noted. Quotations from the NIV are used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. The lesson assumes the teacher uses a blackboard or some other visual aid.